An earthquake of Ms 6.0 occurred tonight in the Moluccas/Halmahera
region south of the Philippine Islands. This earthquake had been
forecast in the New Zealand far-field forecast with the expectations
that it might be this size or larger. Look at the summary in that
forecast (Post #8960, August 21, 2001 below). It says:

"In general, areas which appear to consistently have moderate to
strong earthquakes in the 10 days following Ms 7+ earthquakes in
this area of the Kermadecs/N.Z are:
Halmahera 2-5N 126-129E
Argentina/Chile border 22-26S 65-68W
Hokkaido/Kuril Islands 40-45N 142-148E"

Another earthquake occurred this afternoon at 23S 66W (Mb 4.4) -the
second in this area (the other was a Ml 4.7 on Aug 24) - matching
the second of these, and a Mb 5.2 occurred on Hokkaido on Aug 24
as well, matching the third. So, the main far-field aftershock
areas have now had moderate to large quakes.
This epicenter lies at 62 degrees degrees from the N.Z. shock
and is within 1 degree of an expected triggering distance.

• NEIS Earthquake listing